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Exteriors

How to approach facades, materials, and roofs — the exterior elements that define a build's character and regional identity.

Exteriors

The exterior of a build is what most people see first, and it carries the most weight in communicating regional style, building class, and age. This covers facades — the walls, materials, and detailing — and roofs.

Facade

Minecraft's blocky nature works against realistic structures by default. The solution isn't to add excessive depth and layering — older builds on the server made that mistake, becoming cumbersome and over-detailed in ways that don't hold up. With the custom blocks WesterosCraft offers, you can create interesting facades in a single layer, and when combined with an appropriate level of depth, the result is something that barely reads as Minecraft at all.

Wood and timber. Plain plank walls are not enough on their own. Mix two complementary wood types to add variation — good combinations include birch-oak, oak-jungle, and jungle-spruce. Be careful with other combinations; some block mixes clash badly.

Timber and daub is a staple of medieval architecture and widely used across the server. Use one color of timber and daub per build. Each color comes in four hatch designs plus a plain daub block — experiment with the designs to create interesting patterns, and when in doubt, a standard symmetrical grid works reliably.

Depth and detail. Adding depth to a facade should serve the structure, not decorate it for its own sake. Overhangs, buttresses, window reveals, and sill projections all add depth that makes architectural sense. Depth that exists purely to break up a flat wall without any structural logic tends to look arbitrary.

Block variation. Every surface benefits from variation — avoid placing the same block in long unbroken runs. This is covered in depth in the Gradients guide.

Roof

The roof is a major visual element of most builds, especially those with steep pitches. Plan it deliberately — it's not an afterthought.

Eaves. Most roofs should include an eave or overhang. Eaves add depth to the roofline, prevent rain from washing out the foundation in lore terms, and break the transition between wall and roof. A roof that cuts straight to the wall looks unfinished.

Material by region. Roof material depends on where you're building:

  • Sod — common in colder or rural areas
  • Wood — widely used across many regions
  • Thatch — the most common material for low and middle class buildings
  • Slate — used in wealthier or more urban contexts

Always check the regional style guides in the Repository World before choosing.

Wooden roofs. Use at least two wood types — a base color and an alternate for weathering. This gives the roof a worn, aged look. Apply weathering in ways that make sense: sun-bleaching runs along exposed ridges, water damage accumulates at drainage points and eaves. Avoid random discoloration.

Thatch roofs. Thatch has specific rules:

  • Never mix the two thatch types — it looks unrealistic and messy
  • Thatch must be at least 45 degrees steep — flatter angles aren't waterproof and break realism
  • Keep a defined roof shape — thatch can be slightly roughed up, but it shouldn't become a shapeless blob

Roof rafters. From inside, the underside of the roof should not be visible as plain blocks. Add rafter support using wooden stair blocks and half doors to suggest the timber structure holding the roof up. A general rule: external roof blocks should not be visible from inside the house.